Dictionary

cordon bleu en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from French cordon bleu (“blue ribbon”). The blue ribbon was originally a French insignium indicating chivalry.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A skillful chef.
   • This week he [Brooklyn Beckham] shared a TikTok video, filmed on board, demonstrating his tomato pasta. Tomato pasta! Not exactly cordon bleu is it? Previous masterclasses have included one on jacket potatoes with cheese and baked beans. 2025 July 22, “Why on earth is Brooklyn Beckham cooking pasta with seawater?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • “I don't want to be a ‘cordon bleu,’” she sobbed. “I hate cooking—and everything connected with cooking.” 1922, Marie Belloc Lowndes, What Timmy Did, George H. Doran Company:
   • All the known and unknown tomes on the gourmet's art have been consulted, and I have to thank the authors for this assistance to my work, as well as those cordons bleus from whom I have practically learnt some few of them. 1888, Harriet Anne de Salis, Dressed Game and Poultry à la Mode, Preface:
   • Ted could not hope to rival him; still with the cordon bleue's ^([sic]) help—here he became exceedingly affectionate—much was possible. 1907, Flora Annie Webster Steel, A Sovereign Remedy, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company:
2. (countable, uncountable) An award given to such chefs.
   • [Prince Paul.] […] For myself, the only immortality I desire is to invent a new sauce. I have never had time enough to think seriously about it, but I feel it is in me, I feel it is in me. [Czare.] You have certainly missed your metier, Prince Paul; the cordon bleu would have suited you much better than the Grand Cross of Honour. 1883, Oscar Wilde, Vera […] :
3. (countable, uncountable) Thin slices of veal, ham and cheese breaded and sautéed; somewhat like a wiener schnitzel, or Viennese cutlet.
   • There are, of course, many other types of Schnitzels and related veal specialties. One of the best is called Cordon Bleu. Cheese and ham are rolled in a piece of veal, the whole is dipped as above and fried. [1977, Eugene Fodor, editor, Fodor's Austria, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN, page 76:
4. (alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable) Alternative form of cordon-bleu (“bird of the genus Uraeginthus”).
   alt of cordon-bleu
   • Other Uraeginthus species are much more social; e.g., the Angolan blue waxbill (or blue-breasted cordon bleu, U. angolensis) tends to breed in a semi-colonial manner, with each pair occupying a clump of bushes (Skead, 1975; Goodwin, 1982). 2014, Agustín González, Fernando Martinez-Garcia, Luis Puelles, Hans J Ten Donkelaar, Adaptive Function and Brain Evolution, page 216:
   • A considerable number of species of birds build their nests in close proximity to, or even inside of, nests of aggressive, stinging insects—bees, wasps, and ants. Thus, in eastern Africa, Loveridge (1922) found in the case of a little weaver, the cordon bleu, Uraeginthus angolensis (Linnaeus), that in 19 out of 20 instances the birds built their nests[…]. 2013, S. Mark Henry, Symbiosis: Associations of Invertebrates, Birds, Ruminants, and Other Biota, page 304:
   • Humans buy flowers. Capuchins throw stones. Giant tortoises bellow. But the blue-capped cordon bleu, a small finch found in Africa, really knows how to win over a mate. 2015 November 19, Ian Sample, “The birdie dance: fancy footwork of courting birds revealed”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Forms

Coordinates

cachopo

Deriveds

chicken cordon bleu

Translations (6)

fr cordon bleu (schnitzel) · pl wykwintny kucharz (skillful chef) · fr cordon bleu (skillful chef) · pl cordon bleu (schnitzel) · pl wykwintna kucharka (skillful chef) · de Cordon bleu (schnitzel)